South Africa captain Siya Kolisi has revealed how a chance meeting with Jurgen Klopp caused the Rugby World Cup-winning captain to fall off his seat.
The Liverpool fan was left speechless when Klopp approached to congratulate him on his success, although kolisi was inundated as directing the Springboks to their World Cup.
Kolisi told Sky Sports News:”That was among those highlights. He is such an awesome human being and I understand the boys play hard for him.
“He came and greeted each and every person in the table and talked to me for over 40 minutes. I fell off my chair As soon as I saw him!
“Everybody around me did not understand but I have tremendous respect for him.
“He said he knew that I was and that he watched the closing.”
His team-mates and kolisi embarked on a trophy tour following their victory over England. He states it was only then that he began to understand the enormity of the accomplishment.
“This caused us understand why we did it who we did it ,” he explained.
“To find people in South Africa so happy and united, that has been really powerful.
“We hope it is not just for this moment, it carries on for a long time to come.”
In the wake of South Africa’s World Cup victory, Kolisi was asked if he’d ever dreamed of that moment when rising up. He responded:”Once I was a child all I had been thinking about was getting my next meal.”
It underlines and that he believes the various backgrounds of the Springboks gamers makes their achievement all the more unique.
“Children can begin dreaming about that moment because we’ve done it,” he said.
“Men like Makazole Mapimpi who comes from a rural area, Pieter-Steph du Toit comes in the farming area. Those kids can declare:’Do you know everything? They did it. We can do it’
“Can I think we have helped change perceptions? There is still a lot of work to do although I hope so. We need a whole great deal of work in infrastructure and also hope people invest back in their communities.
“We are all observing this story and it is astonishing, but children shouldn’t have to undergo [what I did]. That is why I’m trying to work as hard as I could with a number of my own team-mates to return and help as much as we could.”